Bruins crush 'Canes, take 2-0 series lead

Sunday

May 12, 2019 at 6:27 PMMay 12, 2019 at 6:28 PM

With defenseman Matt Grzelcyk netting a two-goal game, the first of his NHL career, the Bruins dominated the Hurricanes, winning 6-2.

BOSTON – Homegrown defenseman Matt Grzelcyk took the best shots the Carolina Hurricanes had to offer, pulled himself up off the TD Garden ice and dealt two defining blows of his own, scoring in the first and second periods to spark the Bruins to a 6-2 romp and a 2-0 series lead in the best-of-seven Eastern Conference Final.

Grzelcyk, the second-year, puck-moving defenseman out of Charlestown and Boston University, was a clear-cut target of a frustrated Hurricanes forecheck looking to disrupt the Bruins’ 5-on-5 breakout game.

The hits came fast and furiously, as Micheal Ferland and Brock McGinn landed early blows. Ferland took several runs at Bruins in the first period and caught Grzelcyk, who had been boxed out of playing the puck in front of the Boston bench. Grzelcyk was slow to get up and struggled over the boards.

It was Ferland who had hit Marcus Johansson on his blind side when the Hurricanes were in town in March wearing Whalers colors, knocking the deadline acquisition out of the lineup. Grzelcyk didn’t miss a shift.

The Hurricanes were looking to force turnovers on the Bruins like they had so regularly during their four-game sweep of the N.Y. Islanders, but Boston has showed resiliency and resourcefulness throughout these playoffs against every kind of opponent.

Midway through the opening period, David Pastrnak made a one-on-one shift outside on Jaccob Slavin when Petr Mrazek made his first big stop – along with a rebound save on Patrice Bergeron.

From that point forward, the Bruins suffocated the Hurricanes.

Johansson, whose stock has risen with each playoff round, raced the puck out of the right corner and around the perimeter to the left circle where he left it for Grzelcyk, whose wrist shot squeezed through Mrazek (19 saves) for a 1-0 Boston lead with 4:48 left in the period. Charlie Coyle also assisted.

Johansson had another scoring chance when he collected a pass at the Carolina line and dodged the contact for a clean look, but Mrazek made the stop. The Bruins pressed again after Joakim Nordstrom and Charlie McAvoy forced a turnover in the Carolina zone.

Danton Heinen drove the net and Justin Williams tripped him with 1:34 remaining in the first period, and just six seconds into the powerplay Jake DeBrusk put in his own rebound to make it 2-0 with 1:28 left in the period. Pastrnak and Torey Krug (three helpers) assisted.

Grzelcyk’s second goal came with time running out in the second period and on what had figured to be garbage time of a powerplay with Justin Williams off for holding.

The Hurricanes had a short-handed chance with Jordan Staal and Sebastian Aho, but Tuukka Rask made the save, and then Krug sent Coyle away and the 'Canes chasing. Coyle left the puck for Grzelcyk and his fluttering backhand floated past Mrazek for a 4-0 lead with 2:04 remaining in the period.

It was the first two-goal game of Grzelcyk’s NHL career.

Early in the middle period, a fan had shouted “Dougie I hate you!” from the east-end balcony. The fans hated him more in the third period when he showed up late and recklessly shoved Danton Heinen, who scored to make it 6-0, into the end boards.

Fans accustomed to chanting the last name of the opposing goalie were chanting instead at Hamilton, the former Bruin traded to Calgary in the 2015 offseason.

Combined with Connor Clifton’s goal 3:46 into the middle period, three of Boston’s first four goals came from defensemen.

Krug didn’t score, but his role in setting up goals was immense. He made a nice play to keep the puck inside the attack zone and shot. David Krejci passed the rebound across to David Backes, who swept home a backhand to make it 5-0 just 1:10 into the third period.

Rask (21 saves) was tested mostly in the second period after the home team got a little ragged with a 3-0 lead. With any puck luck, Carolina would have erased the shutout bid earlier, but Williams missed a clean look from the left circle and Rask did his best work.

Nino Niederreiter got Carolina on the board with 8:43 remaining, and Teuvo Teravainen made it 6-2 with 2:28 left after Rask got himself in trouble coming out to play the puck.

Follow on Twitter @MickColageo.

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